Srinagar: National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah said on Tuesday that revocation of Article 370 should be taken back and Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood restored for bringing “peace”.Abdullah, who spoke briefly in the Lok Sabha, said there was a need to think about the steps taken on August 5 last year.
“Encounter is going on in central Kashmir even today. There is no peace. Until we don’t think that the step we have taken on August 5 last year…peace will come only when those steps are taken back. There can be no peace without it,” Abdullah said
He also demanded the unconditional release of political, youth, civil society detainees arrested following the Aug 05 decisions saying that it was imperative to restore long-lasting peace in J&K.
Earlier the party President Dr. Farooq Abdullah along with Member of Parliament of Dravida Munetra Kazhagam (DMK) Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, NC Members of Parliament Hasnain Masoodi, Muhammad Akbar Lone; Rajya Sabha members Fayaz Ahmed Mir of PDP, Nazir Ahmed Laway; protested in front of Gandhi Statue in the foreground of the Parliament house and demanded restoration of the constitutional position to Jammu and Kashmir as per 1952 Delhi agreement, 1975 accord and restoration of the Articles 370, 35-A which were unconstitutionally, undemocratically abrogated by GOI on the 5th of August last year.
The protesting MPs said that there was no peace in J&K, and that there could be no long-lasting peace in the region unless the undemocratic measures undertaken by the GOI on Aug 05 2019 are not reversed. The party’s MPs led by Dr. Abdullah had earlier called on the Lok Sabha Speaker and urged him to enable discussion on the situation in J&K
The Parliament had in August last year approved a resolution to repeal Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and passed a bill for bifurcation of the state into two union territories- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
